Premier League club boss Ole Gunnar Solskjær has founded the investment company Akvakulturpartner, with Atlantic Sapphire founders Johan E. Andreassen and Bjørn-Vegard Løvik among others.
In addition, Atlantic Sapphire shareholder Andre Skarbø is part of the team as well as Solskjær’s agent Jim Solbakken, writes the business magazine Kapital.
“In total, the investor group has invested NOK 25 million (EUR 2.4 million .ed) in Akvakulturpartner, of which Solskjær’s investment company Grip Management has paid NOK 5 million (EUR 0.5 million .ed) for a 20 per-cent stake,” the publication wrote.
Løvik is managing director and chairman of Akvakulturpartner, which has a business address in Vikebukt, Western Norway. This is the same business address that is listed with the one Atlantic Sapphire operates at.
“We are old acquaintances who have created a small investment company to together invest in exciting and innovative aquaculture opportunities that can emerge in the region,” said Bjørn-Vegard Løvik. “This is basically a local patriotic setup. We have done this in order to take positions, if possible, in start-ups or established companies especially in salmon,” he said.
According to Løvik, Akvakulturpartner made an investment right after the company was registered, but he did not want to say anything more about this right now.
Atlantic Sapphire has started harvesting salmon from its land-based facility in Florida, albeit in very low volume, though has ambitions to harvest 220,000 tonnes of fish by 2031. This will make it one of the world’s largest producers of Atlantic salmon. Solbakken has also invested in Atlantic Sapphire.
